From the author of The Carolina Slade Mystery Series and editor of FundsforWriters.com.
Writing can be such a sweet life, once we decide to make it so.

Monday, April 09, 2012

Praying it gets easier

If you are, then quit. Quit praying for easy. Frankly, just quit altogether. If you want easy, then writing ain't your cup of tea.

Why the heck is it supposed to be easy? Name me an easy career. One with no learning curve, no snags, no chance for mistake, no do-over wishes, no obstacles. Didn't think so.

Overcoming difficulty is growth.
Overcoming easy is stagnation.

Every athlete knows that once exercise becomes easy, it's doing the body no good. The effort must be challenging for improvement, whether it's speed, muscle mass, strength, or distance.

It's only natural for you to crave easy when you're up to your earlobes in words that can't seem to sing. Or you're faced with deadlines that seem insurmountable. Or you receive that 50th rejection on your manuscript. Or nobody wants to hire your services.

The time and energy spent wishing for easy could be spent overcoming the obstacle. When faced with a wall you can't see around, instead of falling to the floor in a pout, accept the challenge and climb.

"Easy for you to say, Hope."

Sure, it's easy for me to say. That's because talk is cheap. Nothing spurs me harder than to be told, "It's not easy." Everybody and his cousin clamors to take the easy way. They dodge learning something new. They avoid the challenge of sweating for months to make 50,000 words worth reading. They see others publishing and feel sick and worried that they must be doing something wrong because it isn't easy and quick.

Ever seen chickens eat? You throw corn on the ground in one place and they all rush over to it, pecking the pieces on top of the ground. Throw it on the opposite side of the yard, and they run like mad over to the new place, wanting that fresh, easy-to-find corn that doesn't require scratching in the ground to find. But there's always one bird who stays where she is, enjoying being uninhibited by her peers, scratching and digging for her food. She doesn't have to be like the others. She knows what she wants.

Okay, maybe I'm giving that hen too much credit, but instead of being one of a zillion writers always trying to follow the herd of a zillion writers who seek the easy route, just stick to your guns. Dig in, scratch and work hard. I promise that your focus, diligence and fight to overcome the obstacles instead of dodging them, will result in you being heads and shoulders above your peers in the end.

Carolina Slade Mystery Series

An Introverted Writer's Wake-up Call

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If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. ~Marcus Tullius Cicero

Hope is founder of FundsforWriters.com. Find her clips in Writer's Digest, The Writer, and other trade magazines. Alma Mater is Clemson University which gives her an eerie love for all things orange. Her newest release is Palmetto Poison, released by Bell Bridge Books in February 2014. Lowcountry Bribe is the first in the Carolina Slade series. Tidewater Murder is the second. Available at Amazon, B&N and www.bellbridgebooks.com

Hope speaks to writers groups all over the country regarding earning a living as a writer, mystery writing, and her favorite subject, The Shy Writer. She lives on the banks of Lake Murray in SC.